The use of pelletized, reduced, iron ore did not become common in iron and steel manufacture until relatively recently, and it is probably true that 25 years ago the use of pelletized iron ore was comparatively uncommon. While pellets are now consumed in large quantities it is entirely possible that their initial appearance was the result of the age-old practice of making a virtue of necessity. Up to a quarter century ago the ore industry had employed mainly large deposits of very finely divided iron ore that proved difficult to handle from the standpoint of merchandising it in a form acceptable to the industry. Such practices as sintering and briquetting had proved to be imperfect for certain purposes and until it occured to the industry to concentrate and pelletize the ore and reduce the pelletized product, the problem remained, but reduced pelletized iron ore is now very popular for use in steelmaking, so popular in fact that it has become the preferred practice to grind ore concentrates to a degree of fineness that will facilitate good pelletizing and to merchandise the product in pelletized form.